Here is an editorial in the GIS Development weekly on the attacks http://www.gisdevelopment.net/ezine/weekly/dec0108.htm
GPS, Sat phone, guns and grenades.. A day after the 'Mumbai Attacks', I took the risk of travelling to my college which is located right in the middle of the locations targeted by the trigger happy terrorists. The sparse traffic, deserted roads and gloom spoke louder than the usual 8.00am cacophony of the busiest place in Mumbai city - the C S Terminus, a railway station used by more than eight hundred thousand commuters every day. Walking past the cordoned of patches where the previous day three officers of the Mumbai Police lost their lives in a gun battle with the terrorists, was numbing. The impact of rapidly advancing and easily available geospatial technology on national security was evident in these terrorist attacks on Mumbai city. The Garmin GPS unit used by the perpetrators to reach Mumbai via a sea route and the apparent ease with which they moved around the city through the lesser known back alleys, points either to a prior knowledge of the geography of this city or the use of a PND - probably the later. This may restart the unfortunate bureaucratic thought process of banning PNDs or worst still access to services like Google Maps. If Egypt can do it why not we? Here, I would like to highlight one of the many instances that happened on the same fateful night. My teacher and later colleague along with his family, managed to drive home safely just because he had access to the map data, which helped them bypass the war zone. I am sure that the breadcrumb trail from the confiscated GPS unit will have its own value in 'geospatial forensics'. Dr. Hrishikesh Samant - [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- Regards, Harsha Vardhan, Practice Manager: Geospatial Science and Developer Networks, GIS Development http://twitter.com/gisdevelopment -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dan Brickley Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 6:57 AM To: Ian White Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Geowanking] Google Earth used by the terrorists! Ian White wrote: > Not especially newsworthy, but I can't help but post this: > > > > http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&arti cleId=9121819&intsrc=hm_list > <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&art icleId=9121819&intsrc=hm_list> > > > > What else have terrorists used to plot attacks? Here's a quick list: Quite. "The information available to the terrorists on Google Earth about the locations they attacked is also available on printed tourist maps of Mumbai. The locations included two hotels, a restaurant, a residential complex and a railway station." > > > Rand McNally printed maps > > Nike sneakers > > Evian bottled water > > Bic pens > > Timex watches Also http://www.google.com/search?q=almonds+blackberry+terror Ah for when almonds and blackberries were a tasty recipe idea... > I wish we could have a "global day of reason" but that will never happen. Even an afternoon would be nice, cheers Dan -- http://danbri.org/ _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org
